It is generally costly and time consuming to use machining processes, such as grinding, polishing, and lapping, to produce optical components, and in particular, optical components with complex features. Molding techniques may be used to efficiently manufacture optical components with various shapes, such as spherical or aspheric lenses, lens arrays, cylindrical lenses, v-grooves, etc.
During a molding process, raw materials may be melted, pressure may be applied to the melted materials in a mold designed for a desired optical component, and the molded optical component may then be gradually cooled down before the optical component is removed from the mold. During the cooling process, excessive stress may be built inside the molded optical component if the optical component is not cooled down isothermally in different regions. On the other hand, cooling down the molded optical component slowly to maintain the isothermal condition may prolong the manufacturing process and reduce the manufacturing productivity.